Cryptocurrency and Digital Asset Losses
Money lost to a fake trading platform, a cloned exchange or a wallet you were talked into funding. The card leg and the bank leg of these losses are often recoverable even when the coins are not.
120 days
Usual window for the card leg
2 legs
Card and transfer, both worth checking
$0
Payable before a claim succeeds
What this service is, and what it is not
Crypto fraud is usually described as untraceable, and the coins themselves frequently are. But the money did not start as crypto. In the overwhelming majority of cases we see, the victim funded the loss with a debit or credit card payment to a legitimate exchange, or with a bank transfer to an account the fraudster controlled. Both of those legs sit squarely inside UK payment regulation.
That distinction matters more than anything else on this page. A bank transfer made because you were deceived is an authorised push payment, and the mandatory reimbursement rules apply to it in the same way they apply to any other scam, the fact that the eventual destination was a wallet does not remove the protection. A card payment to an exchange can be challenged where the exchange never gave you control of the asset, where the account was opened in your name by someone else, or where the payment itself was never authorised by you.
What we will not tell you is that we can retrieve coins from a wallet. Nobody can, without the keys. Blockchain tracing can establish where funds moved and can occasionally identify a regulated exchange that received them, which is useful evidence and sometimes leads to a freeze, but it is evidence, not recovery, and firms that blur those two things are usually the ones charging fees upfront.
If someone has contacted you offering to recover crypto you have already lost, particularly for a payment in advance, treat it as a second fraud. Recovery-room scams target people who have already lost money, precisely because they are the people most willing to try anything.
Business challenges this addresses
You are told crypto losses are unrecoverable
The coins usually are. The card payment or bank transfer that funded them frequently is not, and that is a regulated payment with the ordinary protections attached.
The bank says you authorised the transfer
You did, that is what an authorised push payment is. Authorising a payment you were deceived into making is exactly the situation the reimbursement rules were written for.
The platform still shows a balance
A number on a screen you cannot withdraw is not an asset. Fake platforms routinely display healthy balances and even allow a small first withdrawal to build confidence.
You are being asked for a fee to release funds
Tax, commission, a compliance deposit, a wallet unlock fee. There is no such thing. Every additional payment is a further loss and should stop immediately.
How we deliver it
Every stage has a named owner on our side and a defined output. You always know what is happening and what comes next.
Typical duration: Typically 10–16 weeks, longer if referred to the Ombudsman
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Free assessment
Tell us how the money left your account, card, transfer, or both, and to whom. That single fact determines whether there is a claim, and we will tell you straight away if there is not.
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Trace the fiat leg
We establish the merchant of record on any card payment and the beneficiary on any transfer. This is the part of the trail that stays inside the regulated system and carries the protections.
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Evidence the deception
Adverts, WhatsApp and Telegram messages, the platform as it appeared, the account statements, and the point at which withdrawals stopped. Reimbursement decisions turn on this material.
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Formal claim to the bank
We put the reimbursement claim or card dispute to your bank in writing, citing the rule it turns on and addressing the gross negligence argument before the bank makes it.
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Ombudsman referral
If the bank refuses, we refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This is free, and crypto scam cases are an area where refused claims are overturned with some regularity.
What you receive
- An honest view of what is and is not recoverable, before you commit
- Identification of every regulated payment leg in the loss
- A written reimbursement claim or card dispute citing the applicable rule
- A prepared answer to the gross negligence argument banks raise in these cases
- Full Financial Ombudsman referral and submission if the bank refuses
- A named case handler you can reach directly
What changes afterwards
The funding payment is regulated even when the asset is not
Crypto is largely unregulated in the UK. The card payment and the bank transfer that bought it are not, and that is the ground we claim on.
Deception does not mean carelessness
These frauds are professionally run, often over months. Being persuaded by one is not gross negligence, and we make that argument explicitly.
Reimbursement rules apply to scam transfers
Where a payment is in scope of the mandatory reimbursement rules, the starting position is that you are reimbursed, not that you argue for it.
Frequently asked
Almost never, and we will not suggest otherwise. What is often recoverable is the money you paid in, the card payment or the bank transfer that funded the loss. That is a regulated payment and it carries protections the coins do not.
Treat it as a second scam, particularly if payment is required upfront. Recovery-room fraud deliberately targets people who have already lost money. We never make unsolicited contact and never charge before a claim succeeds.
Authorising a payment you were deceived into making is precisely what an authorised push payment is. Where the payment is in scope of the mandatory reimbursement rules, the bank generally has to reimburse unless it can show gross negligence, a high bar it must evidence, not assert.
Yes, and often helpfully. A payment to a genuine regulated exchange creates a clear record, and where the account was opened or controlled by someone else, or you never had control of the asset, that is a strong basis for a claim.
Card claims are usually 120 days from the transaction. Reimbursement claims for scam transfers should be raised as soon as possible and the Ombudsman route generally requires a complaint within six years of the event. Tell us the dates before assuming you are out of time.
Services that pair with this one
APP Fraud Reimbursement
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Unauthorised Card Transactions
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Section 75 Claims
On credit card purchases between $100 and $30,000, your card provider is equally liable with the retailer. That is statute, not a scheme rule.